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ASCENSION is seeking an experienced Senior Program Analyst to provide grants program, operational, analytical, and executive support to FEMA’s Grant Programs Directorate. This position is suited for a federal grants or program-management professional who understands how to convert complex requirements, policies, program data, audit findings, and stakeholder input into accurate analyses, actionable recommendations, executive briefings, and improved business processes.

The ideal candidate brings sound judgment, strong writing and analytical abilities, and demonstrated experience supporting senior government officials in a deadline-driven environment. The individual must be comfortable managing several workstreams simultaneously, working through incomplete or evolving information, identifying risks before they affect performance, and producing polished work products with limited supervision.

This role supports FEMA programs responsible for administering preparedness and public-safety grant funding. The Senior Program Analyst helps FEMA improve grant administration, reporting, audit readiness, internal controls, business practices, stakeholder coordination, and executive decision-making.

Position Summary

The Senior Program Analyst provides advanced programmatic and analytical support across FEMA grant programs, including the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program and the Fire Prevention and Safety Grant Program. Depending on the assigned order, the analyst may support grant lifecycle activities, program monitoring, audit and financial reviews, internal-control assessments, policy and process improvement, performance reporting, meeting facilitation, executive communications, and leadership-transition products.

The analyst reviews program information from multiple sources, evaluates operational and compliance issues, documents findings, develops recommendations, and prepares clear materials for technical staff, program managers, and senior leadership. The position also helps establish repeatable tools and processes—such as trackers, standard operating procedures, briefing templates, decision logs, action-item registers, dashboards, risk logs, and quality-control checklists—that enable FEMA personnel to manage work consistently and maintain reliable program records.

This is a senior individual-contributor role. It may also include leading discrete workstreams, coordinating junior analysts, reviewing work products, and serving as a primary point of contact for assigned projects.

Primary Responsibilities

The successful candidate is expected to:

• Analyze federal grant programs, policies, procedures, operational data, audit findings, and stakeholder requirements to identify risks, trends, gaps, and opportunities for improvement.
• Support senior-level grant program activities associated with FEMA preparedness, fire, and public-safety grant portfolios.
• Review grant-related documentation for completeness, consistency, accuracy, compliance, and alignment with established program requirements.
• Evaluate program operations, business practices, workflows, internal controls, and reporting processes.
• Develop recommendations that improve program integrity, efficiency, accountability, customer service, and management visibility.
• Prepare executive briefings, decision memoranda, reports, issue papers, talking points, meeting materials, summaries, and other leadership products.
• Draft and revise policies, procedures, standard operating procedures, job aids, templates, checklists, and process documentation.
• Track program milestones, risks, issues, dependencies, decisions, commitments, and corrective actions through completion.
• Coordinate information requests and deliverables among FEMA program personnel, financial specialists, grants management professionals, auditors, regional stakeholders, and contractor staff.
• Facilitate working sessions, program reviews, stakeholder meetings, briefings, conferences, and other high-level engagements.
• Document meeting discussions, conclusions, recommendations, commitments, and assigned actions.
• Prepare concise meeting summaries and follow up with responsible parties to promote timely completion of action items.
• Assist with virtual and in-person conference planning, logistical coordination, support materials, toolkits, agendas, and online meeting administration.
• Develop leadership and organizational transition materials for incoming FEMA officials.
• Conduct qualitative and quantitative research using program records, interviews, data sets, policies, regulations, and other authoritative sources.
• Validate source information and reconcile inconsistencies before including data in reports or executive products.
• Produce recurring and ad hoc status reports, performance summaries, trend analyses, and management-level presentations.
• Recommend performance measures and practical methods for monitoring program progress and operational outcomes.
• Maintain organized, current, and traceable program files in approved collaboration and document-management environments.
• Perform quality-control reviews of analytical products, reports, presentations, and supporting documentation before submission.
• Protect sensitive government and grant-related information and follow applicable records-management, privacy, cybersecurity, and information-handling procedures.
• Identify requests that may exceed the assigned order’s scope and elevate them through ASCENSION’s project-management chain before proceeding.